Cylinder jacketing process and apparatus



Dec. 27, 1927. 1,653,749

G. 'r. VOORHEES CYLINDER JACKETING PROCESS AND APPARATUS Filed June 5, 1-920 l Tm u:

WITNESS: 31' INVENTOR. 42 I V Jam 7719A Patented Dec. 27, 1927.

UNITED STATES GARDNER T. VOORHEES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CYLINDER JAGKETING PROCESS AND APPARATUS.

Application filed June 3,

This invention relates to the process of and apparatus for compressing in a compressor any gas or vapor or both, such for example as steam or such as a refrigerant fluid of a refrigerating system.

The objects of my invention are to maintain any desired controlled temperature of the cylinder walls so as toreduce or prevent cylinder condensation or cylinder superheating. A further object of my inven' tion is to utilize the heat/of compression or to more economically cope with the heat of compression. I attain these objects by having a controlled heat transferring means directly or indirectly in contact with the outer walls of the cylinder so that the cylinders inner walls may be maintained at any de sired temperature.

In the drawings which are diagrammatic Fig. I is a sectional elevation of cylinderA of a compressor. Fig. II is a sectional elevation showing various modifications where A and B are compressors, C a vessel, D a multiple effect compressor device (see my U. S. Patent #982,753 of Jan. 24:, 1911, Multiple effect gas compressing apparatus), K a heat transferring means and P a pump.

The operation of a simple form of my invention, as shown in Fig. I, is as follows: a is a. cylinder having any desired type of valves Z) Z) and 0 c, actuated in any desired manner, (Z is a piston having a piston rod e, f is a jacket, 9 is a heat transferring means, it is a jacket fluid, 1 and 2 are valves, 3, 4c, 5, 6 are pipe connections, Ais a compressor as for steam and ammonia or the like.

Heat transferring means gis adapted to directly, bydirect' contact, heat or cool cylinder a, or to indirectly heat or cool cylinder a through jacket fluid b so as to maintain the cylinder at at any desired temperature Heating fluid k may be water, brine, or any other desired substance. The heat for means 9 may be from any desired source and the heat taken away by means 9 may be used for any desired purpose. Compressor A may draw in gas through pipe 5 and valves 6 b and discharge the compressed gas through valves 0 c andpipe 6. Piston rod 6 may be reciprocated from any desired source of power. Means 9 may be the coil of arefrigerator that directly cools cylinder at or that indirectly cools cylinder (1 by acket fluid 71. A liquid transfers heat faster than does a gas or vaporand a circulating liquid 1920. Serial No. 386,379.

transfers heat faster than a comparatively still liquid and a boiling liquid transfers heat rapidly. In general practice it is customary to try to improve the temperature cond tion of cylinder Walls of a refrigerating machine compressor by cooling them as by a water acket. But the temperature of water in acket is seldom sufficiently low to materially affect the temperature of cylinder c. Other means have been tried to keep cylinder at at a more proper temperature such as by liquid injection in a compressor.

But liquid injection in a refrigerating machines compressor cuts down both its capacity and economy. In a refrigerating machines compressor the cylinder is so hot that it superheats the gas during suction and causes a steeper compression curve than it would otherwise be and so yields less capacity and economy. By use of my invention steam can be compressed in a steam compressor (see my U. S. Patent 1,066,348, July 1, 1918) with little or no cylinder condensetion, and steam vapor generated in the jacket by the heat of compression can join and so augment the compressed steam from the compressor. By the use of my invention a compression refrigerating machine can have its cylinder superheating reduced and can economically handle Vapor formed by the jacket, from a refrigerant therefor, by the heat of compression, either through a multiple effect compressor or through a compound compressor.

When excessive pressure in jacket is not practical nor desirable it is preferable to ave an indirect transfer of heat to or from the cylinder, via a high temperature boiling, point liquid, as for example by brine. The volumetric efliciency, aside from clearance, of a compressor is increased by having the suction as cold as is possible without condensation and by having the discharge as cold as is possible without condensation during compressionand discharge. Part of the heat of compression is transferred by hot cylindel walls to suction vapor thus superheating it and causing a cylinder full of it at the end of suction to be less dense than it otherwise would be. The compression curve will approximate to that of the saturated curve of an indicator diagram if the walls of the cylinder are cold enough to take out a considerable portion of the heat of compression asit is formed. The temperature of jacket water is usually that occurring by natural means. This natural temperature of jacket water varies with the seasons and is too cold to be as valuable as is desired in a steam compressor and too hot to be as valuable as is desired in an ammonia compressor. The result is that steam is condensed in a steam compressor while the suction vapor is greatly superheated during suction in the ammonia com ressor. It would be possible in Fig. I, to eat, the water it in jacket 7' by means 9 for the steam compressor or to cool it by means 9 in the ammonia compressor but here we find that the limits of heating, would soon be reached by the formation of steam when heating the water if h were open to the atmosphere or by the formation of ice while cooling the water. Furthermore it is not necessary to use any heat in means 9, in a compressor, for the heat of compression, will, if properly utilized, at a proper temperature plane, as throu h this invention, furnish all the heat so nee ed and further it is evident that brine or a refrigerant medium that can he made hotter or colder than water will sometimes be better than water for Fig. I.

A steam compressor in air at ordinary temperature is similar to what an ammonia compressor would be in air very greatly below 0 F.

Liquid injection in an ammonia refrigerating machine compressor, commonly known as wet compression, causes a very considerable quantity of vapor, that has not done refrigeration in the refrigerator, to be present, at the end of the suction stroke.

This vapor that has not come from the refrigerator was formed because of the vapor formed at the expansion valve to produce the liquid for the wet compression and because of the vaporization by the hot walls of the cylinder, of a considerable portion of the liquid entering the compressor during sue-- tion. Actual practice has demonstrated that so called wet compression requires a larger cylinder and more power fora given quantity of refrigeration than does the so called dry compression, where slightly superheated vapor is allowed to enter the compressor. It is well established that the temperature of gas in a wet compression ammonia compressor at the end of suction is colder than that of dry compression and that the compression curve in a wet compression indicator diagram is less steep than that of a dry compression diagram, consequently if the cylinder were sufficiently cooled by some other means than by liquid injection the beneficial results of a colder cylinder full of gas at the end of suction and less steep compression curve would result as it does through this Invention.

In Fig. II, A is a compressor, B is a similar compressor, C is a vessel which may be a part of or an extension of jacket 0 of compressor A, D is a multiple efi'ect compressor device, P is a pump, K is a heat transferring means, compressor A has discharge valve a, piston Z) having suction valve 0, and piston rod 03 reciprocated by any desired means, 6 is a jacket which may have insulation e,. D has low suction valve f and mechanically operated high suction valve g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 32 are valves, other reference numbers refer to pipe connections. A and B cylinders taken together may constitute a compound compressor, A cylinder and D may constitute a multiple efi'ect compressor; c linder B, multiple efiect compressor device pump P, coil K, and some of the valves and pipes are or are not in use as per the following more detaileddescription.

Com ressor A may pump any desired fluid, or example, as steam or ammonia or the like. In which case the suction is through pipe 26 and the discharge is through pipe 27. Pipe 26 may lead from any desired source of low pressure gas or vapor, and pipe 27 may lead to any desired receptacle of compressed gas. For example pipe 26 may lead from the exhaust of a steam engine or from the suction outlet of an NH refrigerator, and pipe 27 may lead to a steam condenser or to the generator of an absorption machine or to an ammonia condenser. Compression of a fluid in compressor A, causes heat to be generated. This heat of compression is ordinarily partially taken care of by the circulation of water through jacket 0 as from inlet pipe 14 and through outlet pipe 15 with valves 7, 3, 32 closed and valves 1 and 2 open. If this apparatus were a steam com ressor then with valves 3, .7, and I shut an valves 2 and 32 open, steam could circulate through jacket e we valve 2 and pipe 15 and through pipe 14 and pipe 31 and valve 32. In such a case and with insulation e I found that no condensation resulted at 31 from the passage of saturated steam into valve 2 and I found that by throttling valve 32 and so controlllng the pressure in jacket e, that I could eliminate cylinder condensation in compressor A simple form of my invention for a steam compressor is as was just described. Another simple form of my invention is as follows also for a steam compressor. With valves 7, 3, and 32 shut and valves 1 and 2 regulated, here valve 2 is so regulated that the pressure in the jacket and so the saturated steam pressure in the jacket is maintained at any desired temperature, the waste of steam so generated in the jacket by the heat of compression, through the regulated Inn valve 2, being made up by water added through regulated valve l butas the steam that was wasted through valve 2 is valuable I utilize it-as follows. Valves 2 and 32 are shutand valves 3, 7 and 9 are open and valve 1 is regulated, valve 11 is shut and B, D, P, K, are not in use. The cycle of operation is then as follows: The compressor A takes in steam through pipe 26 and by the reciprocation of its piston b compresses-and discharges it through pipe 27, 28 to any desired receptacle therefor. This makes heat of compression in compressor A which passes through its cylinder walls to water 3 in jacket 0 and so heats and vaporizes water in jacket 0 which passes through pipe 15, 16 to vessel G and out theretrom through pipe 17, 21 either to join the compressed steam in pipe 27 with valve 8 open and valve 10 shut or to join the law pressure steam with valve 8 shut and valve 10 open. The water so vaporized in Jacket 6 is replaced by the regulation of water inlet valve 1 which introduces water into vessel 0 through pipe'12. Pump P may or may not be used, in this or in any other case, as may be desired for increased heat conduction by increased circulation of the fluid y in jacket 6. In case the steam from acket 6 is added to compressed steam, in pipe 27 it is obvious that work of compression is recovered by the steam so formed in jacket 0. It is important to know that the cylinder walls at of compressor A should be maintained at such a temperature by packet e as will prevent cylinder condensation and that will cause a minimum of superheat during suction so as to yield best capacity and economy. Practically the same thing as the above may bedone by using anyot-her substance such as brine for example, as 3 in jacket 6, in which case the heat for the water to be made into steam by the heat from jacket 6 is transferred by the brine in vessel C to water introduced in coil'K through pipe 20 past regulated valve ,4 and the steam so formed goes to pipe 27 via pipe '19, 18, 21 with valves 5, 7 closed and valve 6 open. The liquid level in vessel C should be maintained somewhere around Z.

Now if A were an ammonia compressor cylinder, K could likewise be used with brine in jacket (2 and vessel C, in which case the brine could be cooled by any desired means as by liquid ammonia from pipe 20 expanded through valve 4 and vaporized in coil iii and its vapor passing out through pipe 19 and valve 5 to any desired receptacle in) same. 01- liquid ammonia could be used in jacket c just as liquid steam was used in the steam coinpressors jacket e.

Following through an ammonia cycle where ammonia is used in jacket 6 and where A. is an ammonia compressor or a refrigerating machine compressor here A may be a simple compressor or one cylinder of a compound compressor, having cylinders A and B or cylinder A may be a multiple etl'ect compressor because of multiple effect compressor device D Compressor A may cylinder B through pipe 30 into an ainmonia condenser. But in any case ammonia liquid from condenser by pipe 12 flows through valve 1 into vessel C and flows from vessel C by pipes 13, 14 into jacket 0 of compressor A where it is vaporized by heat of compression and flows as vapor, and some slop over liquid, through pipes 15 and 16 to vessel C where it drops some or all of its entrained liquid and flows out pipes 17, 21 to any of several desired places as follows: WVith valves 10 and 11 shut it flows through valve 8 to suction 27, 29 of compressor cylinder B, with valves 8 and 10 shut' it flows through valve 11 to high suction inlet of multiple effect compressor device D to compressor A, with valves 8 and 11 shut it flows through valve 10 to low suction inlet 24 to compressor A or with no high pressure cylinder 15 it flows with valves 10, 11 shut through valves 8 and 9 to join discharge in 27, 28 from compressor A and goes to condenser. Variations in suction and discharge pressures will determine which of these various ways will be most economical for the disposition of the vapor formed in jacket 6 of compressor A. In general this invention causes a higher heat, Volumetric efiiciency in the compressor cylinder, by having as little cylinder superheating during suction or as little cylinder condensation during compression and discharge, as is possible and also causes greater efficiency of capacity and power to operate, because of said greater volumetric efiiciency and because heat of compression indirectly compresses some of the total vapor handled.

The average flow of heat is always from the compressor cylinder to the vaporizing fluid directly or indirectly in contact with the compressor cylinder.

If this vaporizing fluid were too hot-thenheat could not flow to it as rapidly as is desired for the above results and so too much super-heating during suction, would result.

If this vaporizing fluid were too cold then too much heat would fiowto it and so cause cylinder condensation during compression or dlscharge or both, and this condensation would recvaporate on the next suction stroke and so cut down the capacity and economy of the compressor.

Other uses of the combination shown in Figs. 1 and 2 should be obvious to those skilled in the art without further detailed description. In my use of the words, cylinmder conden ation or cylinder superheating, I mean that the preferred controlled temperature of the cylinder Walls shall be such as will give the greatest Weight of gas or vapor, actually drawn into, compressed and discharged from the cylinder per cycle. That is, so that the effect of superheating gas or vapor, during suction by the comparatively hot cylinder walls and the condensation of vapor during compression by the com niratively cold cylinder walls, and the latters reexpansion because of reevaporation during suction, is such as to cause the maximum weight of gas or vapor to be actually taken into and discharged from the compressor per cycle of its operation. In both specification and claims, unless otherwise so stated I mean as follows The word vapor means any condition of vapor, such as saturated vapor; as vapor at the temperature due to its saturated pressure; or wet vapor as vapor containing liquid; or superheated vapor as vapor at a temperature higher than that due its saturated pressure. By condition or quality of a vapor I mean any of the above is wet, saturated or superheated. When I use the word gas I mean a superheated vapor. Although reciprocating compressors are shown, their equivalent is claimed such as turbine compressors, as is also any other equivalent means of that shown and described.

What I claim is:

1. The process of pumping vapor by a compressor which consists in so conducting heat through its cylinder and from its cylinders inner walls to a controlled temperature cooling means that the inner walls will be maintained at such a mean temperature as will reduce or prevent cylinder condensation and reevaporation and superheating in the cylinder.

2. The process of pumping vapor by a compressor which consists in so conducting heat through its cylinder from its inner cylinder walls, to a liquid of said vapor to vaporize said liquid at such a pressure that said inner walls will be maintained at such a mean temperature as will reduce or prevent cylinder condensation and reevaporation and superheating in the cylinder and joining said liquids vapor or heat there from with the vapor flowing to or from the compressor.

3. The combination of a steam compressors cylinder and piston with a jacket for said cylinder and a water inlet to said jacket with throttling means in said jackets water inlet and a steam outlet from said jacket joining with a compressed steam outlet from said cylinder.

4, The combination of a compressor cylinder and piston with multiple efi'ect compressor means, a jacket for said cylinder, a cooling means for said jacket, an inlet rovided with throttling means to said coo ing means, and an outlet from said cooling means to the high pressure inlet of the multiple efi'ect compressor means.

5. The combination of a compound compressor with a jacket for the low pressure cylinder and cooling means for said jacket, an inlet provided with throttling means to said cooling means, and an outlet from said cooling means to the high pressure cylinders suction inlet.

6. A jacketed steam compressor comprising means to cause water not in the compressors cylinder to become vaporized by heat of compression and means to conduct said vapor to join vapor that is to be or has been compressed in the compressors cylinder.

7. A jacketed refrigerant compressor comprising means to cause liquid not in the compressors cylinder to become vaporized by heat of compression and means to conduct said vapor to join vapor that is to he or has been compressed in the compressors cylinder.

8. The combination of a jacketed compressor cylinder and a cooling fluid for its jacket with means to introduce said fluid into its jacket and means to remove said fluids vapor or gas at a pressure superior to that of said compressors suction.

9. The combination of a jacketed compressor cylinder and a cooling fluid for its acket with a liquid conduit leading to the jacket, a regulating means in said conduit, and a vapor conduit adapted to lead from said jacket to a body of vapor of pressure superior'to that of the suction to the compressor.

10. The combination of a jacketed compressor cylinder and a cooling fluid for its jacket with a liquid conduit leading to the jacket, a regulating means in said conduit, and a vapor conduit leading from said jacket to a discharge conduit leading from said compressor.

11. In a compound compressor having a jacketed low pressure cylinder and a cooling fluid for said jacket a liquid conduit leadmg to said jacket, a regulating means in said conduit, and a vapor conduit leading from said jacket to a high pressure cylinders suction conduit.

12. In a multiple efi'ect compressor having a jacketed cylinder and a cooling fluid for said jacket a liquid conduit leading to said jacket, a regulating means in said con duit, and a vapor conduit leading from said jacket to a high pressure intake conduit to said compressor.

13. The combination of a jacketed compressor and a cooling fluid for its jacket and a heat conducting means for said fluid, with means to introduce a cooling fluid into the heat conducting means and means to remove said fluids vapor from the heat conducting "means to introduce a cooling liquid into the heat conducting means and means to regulate its quantity and means to conduct its vapor to abody of vapor of pressure superior to that of the suction to the compressor.

15. The combination of a jacketed compressor, and a cooling fluid for its j acket'and a heat conducting means for said fluid, with means to introduce and regulate a quantity of cooling liquid into the heat conducting "means and means to conduct its vapor to a 16. In a compound compressor having a jacketed low pressure cylinder and a cooling fluid for said jacket, a heat conducting means for said fluid and a liquid conduit,

provided with a regulating valve, leading tosaid heat conducting means and a vapor c011- ,duit leading from said heat conducting means to a high pressure cylinders suction conduit.

17. In a multiple effect compressor having a jacketed cylinder and a cooling fluid for said jacket, a heat conducting means for said fluid and a liquid conduit provided with a regulating valve, leading to said heat conducting means and a vapor conduit leading from said heat conducting means to a high pressure suction inlet to said compressor.

GARDNER TAFTS VOORHEES. 

